Unfamiliar names on credit report could signal ID theft

Dear Credit Score Report,
I
checked my credit report and it has a list of aliases on there, but I have
never used another name. There are also some things on there I did not do. How
do I go about correcting this? -- Jakkia

Hey Jakkia,
You should dispute minor credit reporting mistakes with the
credit bureau. However, if you suspect those names -- and any unrecognized
accounts -- are the work of an identity thief, then you'll need to take more
decisive action.

It's difficult to know exactly what caused those errors on
your credit report. "It could be anything from a clerical error, to a mixed
file, to identity theft," says Paul Stephens, director of policy and
advocacy with the nonprofit Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. (A mixed file would accidentally blend your
credit report with the report for someone with a similar Social Security number or other identifying personal information.) Regardless of the cause, your story
proves why it's smart for consumers to regularly check their credit reports. "It's
important for consumers to maintain the most up-to-date credit report, especially
when they go to apply for credit to receive the most favorable
terms," says Dave Blumberg,
spokesman for credit bureau
TransUnion. Although credit reporting mistakes of
the more innocent variety can be disputed with the bureaus, if you think fraud
is the cause, "you should immediately begin to take steps to protect
yourself," says Rod Griffin, director of public education for credit
bureau Experian.

Let's start with the least-alarming possibility: Your credit
report simply contains mistakes made by a bank, bureau or someone else involved
in the credit industry. If that's the case, you can dispute the appearance of
those items with the credit bureaus by phone, mail or online at the websites of
TransUnion,
Experian and Equifax.

And perhaps those names are not mistakes at all. "Often,
name variations [on a credit report] are the result of a person using
variations in their name when they apply for credit," Griffin says. That
could include listing a shortened version of a first name, for example, such as
a man named "Robert" sometimes using "Bob." If that's the
case, Experian discourages you from having those alternate names removed from
your report. "They are included to ensure you have a complete record of
what is being reported to Experian as being associated with you," Griffin
says.

However, if you've always written your name in the same way
-- which seems likely, judging by your note -- then I'd encourage you to take
the necessary precautions against identity theft. Convinced you've been
victimized? Start by gathering the credit report and any other evidence before filing
a police report. "With a police report, you can add a victim statement to
your credit report," Griffin says, with the bureau then taking action to
suppress and remove the fraudulent information.

Additionally, at a minimum, you can place a fraud alert with
the credit bureaus. CreditCards.com offers a variety of sample fraud alert letters to guide you. You only need to write a single letter: Contacting
one credit bureau to place an alert will mean they must contact the other two
bureaus, as well. "The alert tells any business that accesses your report
that you may be a victim of fraud or identity theft and asks that they take
appropriate actions to verify your identity before proceeding with the
application," Griffin says. As an
alternative to the fraud alert, you may instead want to consider a credit freeze, which will prevent anyone -- including lenders -- from accessing your
credit reports from now on. "I'd suggest a fraud alert as a minimum, and
recommend a security freeze for the greatest protection," Privacy Rights'
Stephens says.

To choose the most appropriate steps to take, you'll first
need to find out why those mistakes appear on your credit report. In other
words, you're "going to need to do a lot of detective work," Stephens
says.

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